Brennan happy with Imperial Commander

PADDY BRENNAN expects Imperial Commander to feel the benefit of his racecourse gallop as he continues the build-up to the defence of his totesport Gold Cup title at the Cheltenham festival next month.

The Nigel Twiston-Davies trained 10-year-old blew away the cobwebs with a two-mile spin alongside a couple of younger stablemates at Warwick on Monday, although Brennan was reported to have been busy in the saddle.

Imperial Commander has been off the track since winning the Betfair Chase at Haydock back in November and Brennan believes the stiff piece of work will bring him on again.

“He felt great and looked great,” said the rider.

“I wasn’t disappointed (with the racecourse gallop), but you’d like to think there’s an awful lot of improvement.

“He’ll have another racecourse gallop and I certainly wouldn’t want to ride anything else at Cheltenham.

“He loves Cheltenham, has all the form and ticks all the right boxes.

“But, as everyone knows, it’s never easy to win a Gold Cup.”

Imperial Commander is 7-2 favourite with the sponsors to land another Gold Cup.